ReliOn Glucose Meter Reviews

ReliOn glucose meters are offered exclusively at WalMart and Sam’s Club. ReliOn is owned by WalMart and does not manufacture its three glucose monitors. WalMart has decided to offer the meters as a super low cost option for its customers.

I would concur with this. A sample of customers found that they could do without the frills, but liked the inexpensiveness of the ReliOn meters, particularly the low cost test strips.

RELION ULTIMA, CONFIRM AND MICRO GLUCOSE METERS

ReliOn Ultima: The Ultima is the original meter offered by the company. The meter only costs about $9 dollars. A 0.6 micro liter sample is required and results take approximately 5 seconds. Abbot manufacturers the Ultima for WalMart and provides customer service for the meter.

It offers modified alternative testing on the finger and forearm. You do have to code the device each time you open a new box of test strips.

The Ultima does offer some advanced features like 450 test results storage and 7, 14, and 30 day averages. However, more expensive products tend to offer more options.

Users of this product tout its value compared with other choices. In particular, users liked the low cost per test strip.

As our guide on choosing a glucose monitor points out, many glucose meters are free, but the test strip costs will add up quickly. As of writing this review, 100 strips were about $36 dollars. With the Ultima, you get a no frills reliable choice with very low ongoing costs.

ReliOn Micro: As seen in the chart below, the Micro is fairly new to the market and offers some nice features for such a small meter. The cost to run the Micro is a little more than the Ultima. Fifty test strips run about $20. ARKAY manufactures this meter and provides customer service support for purchasers.

Relion Confirm: This is the newest glucose monitor from WalMart and is also manufactuere by ARKAY. The meter is very similar to the Ultima, which makes me wonder if Walmart will be parting ways with the Abbott manufactured Ultima.

COMPARISON CHART

Ultima

Micro

Confirm

Auto. Shut Off

1 minutes

3-5 minutes

3-5 minutes

Battery Type

One CR2032

One CR2032

One CR2032

Battery Life

1,000 Tests

3,000 Tests

2,000 Tests

Alt. Site Testing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Memory Capacity

450 Tests

50 Tests

360 Tests

Storage Temp.

-13 to 131 F

32 to 122 F

32 to 122 F

Operating Temp.

50 to 122 F

50 to 104 F

50 to 104 F

Result Range

20 to 500 mg/dL

20 to 600 mg/dL

20 to 600 mg/dL

Sample Size

0.6 microliter

0.3 microliter

0.3 microliter

Test Time

5 seconds

7 seconds

7 seconds

Weight (battery)

1.48 oz. (yes)

1.1 oz. (yes)

1.6 oz. (yes)

Size (Inches)

2.94 x 2.10 x 0.64

3.6 x 1.2 x 0.5

2 x 3.9 x 0.5

Backlit Display

Yes

No

No

Coding Req.

Yes

No

No

Software Avail.

No*

No*

No*

Warranty

5 Years

5 Years

5 Years

*WalMart has no diabetes management software. It claims to allow for third party options, but doesn’t identfy any.